OTHER SERVICES

DESIGN | AUDIT | TRADEMARK PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT

Knijff serves a variety of medium to large-sized companies and provides standard search and registration services, as well as other services aimed at protecting a clients’ intellectual property. Whatever your question, whatever your project size, our experts are ready for you! Below is a selection of the additional services we provide.

Monitoring your trademark portfolio

Knijff boasts extensive experience managing large trademark portfolios. Be this renewal projects across the world, keeping primary and subsidiary trademarks up-to-date globally or changing trademark proprietor details in the various trademark registers, Knijff is happy to be of service.

Because trademarks are not static, and changes may affect the validity of your trademark registrations, it is important that you keep your trademark portfolio up-to-date to allow for changes to your logo, packaging, location, ownership, or trademark use in other countries.

We are happy to go over your trademark portfolio with you and advise you on any gaps or overlaps in protection. Knijff also offers its clients a modern online trademark managing system: OTMIS.

Strategic maintenance services

Our service does not stop at simply registering a trademark. We take an active approach and if we see anything that could affect your trademark rights or that could be improved to ensure you keep your lead on your competitors, we will advise you on this immediately. Since the advice we provide also has a marketing aspect, consultation with your marketing department is useful to enhance your position in all areas. For instance, we write brand manuals to ensure the correct use of your trademark and avoid the use of generic names. In legal procedures, we often liaise with the lawyers, providing our expertise as input to decide on the best strategy in court.

We are also hired to implement worldwide rebranding projects. Such large projects must be duly managed for time and costs by experienced trademark attorneys. Searches (Multisearch®) play an important role in this process. The same applies to worldwide mutation projects, transferring trademark rights, for instance. We have extensive experience in running such projects smoothly and cost efficiently.

Protecting design

Designs are becoming increasingly important in product distinction. For new products, we always look for ways to protect design, an area of expertise for us. We are perfectly based to assess the added value of a registration. Designs are registered with the utmost care, because only models that have been filed correctly entitle their proprietor to the rights. It is therefore crucial to get it right.

Knijff, your IP partner

You can also contact Knijff for any questions about Intellectual Property. Although there are some areas in which we have limited expertise, such as patent rights, we can help you find your way and give you tips about when we feel a patent right could benefit you. We will be happy to consult with you and to refer you to one of our partners.

We can also advise you on copyrights. Do you have a concept or format? Then put it to us. Based on what you submit to us, we can determine if the concept or format is worth fleshing out, and if certain elements can be protected as trademarks or design. Knijff will always focus on preventing copyright issues. For instance, if it involves a logo or ad by a designer, we will check with you if the copyrights have been transferred to you in writing. If not, we will draw up a contract to make sure they will be.

Interim staff

At peak times or staff shortages, you could perhaps do with a little extra professional help. Interim trademark attorneys or paralegals can temporarily manage or clean up your trademark portfolio: quickly, adequately and cost-effectively. Our own Knijff attorneys can put their expertise to your use, either at your offices, or elsewhere.

Using temporary staff? Then contact us to discuss the possibility of interim staff.

Anti-counterfeiting measures

Counterfeiting is a growing problem. Particularly for companies marketing a popular product, produced in China, for instance. Where counterfeiting used to be restricted to luxury products, more common items are now also being copied and shipped out. All the more reason to tackle the problem at source.

You can report your products to a customs organisation by means of an “application for customs action”. The customs organisation will then target any products that infringe your rights and stop them upon entry to a country. The sender or recipient will be requested to surrender the shipment for destruction. As this often helps to prevent a court case, this approach is very effective and cost efficient. Knijff will be happy to organise the customs actions for you. We work with React, a non-profit anti-counterfeiting organisation.